Fighting Budgies and Too Many Cages!

Question
Hello! I have 8 budgies, all of whom, at one time, were
living peacefully in one, HUGE cage. For the sake of
differentiating between them all, since there is quite the
drama, I'll list their names and sexes.

Females: Bijou, Louie, Storm, Gaya

Males: Peanut, Cheeky, Oi, Dadman

They are paired in that order also, Bijou to Peanut, Louie
to Cheeky, etc...

Ok, so this is the problem; Dadman and Louie started
"getting it on" and Gaya attacked Louie out of jealousy(?)
and Louie ended up biting Gaya's foot so badly that it drew
blood and I had to tend to it. I removed Dadman and Gaya and
gave them their own cage. Two bird cages, I can live with
that.

Then, for no apparent reason, Louie and Storm started
fighting and, again, Louie drew blood from Storm. So I
removed Storm and Oi and put them with Dadman and Gaya.
Problem solved.

They all lived in harmony for about a month when Dadman
started chasing Oi wildly. This went on for several hours
and I seperated them. I put them back together the following
day and Dadman started chasing him right away. Oi is not
aggressive in any way and is petrified of pretty much
everything, so the poor thing was just fleeing in fear.

So now I have four birds in one cage, two birds in one cage,
and two more birds in yet another cage. Add my cockatiel's
cage to the mix and I have what looks like a rescue or pet
store!

I have been dealing with the multiple cages for almost two
years and now my husband and I are having a baby and we just
can't cope with all of these cages, the extra food and water
dishes in the morning, extra mess... And they're all really
large cages, ~34sq inches each.

Is there any good way of getting everyone to make up and get
along? I always had one food dish per bird to cut down on
that rivalry, extra toys, perches (you know, the prime
location rope perch up high that everyone fights over :-
p...)and I had all of them in a cage that was about 60",
maybe a bit more. If I just put them all back together and
they fight, should I just let them until they establish
themselves? Will they ever? I really don't want to deal with
blood, birds don't have much to begin with!

Thanks so much for your time and any advice you might be
able to offer!

Answer
 Hi Karen,

I guess I should give you the bad news first, you really don't have many options at this point other then let them decide the pecking order or keep them seperated.

A little background, I keep 100+ budgies in a outdoor aviary that is 30 feet long and 10 feet wide. I also have a few hospital tanks setup for sick birds, and a few cages for birds that need to be seperated from the flock for whatever reason. I obviously can't keep 100+ birds seperated or my house would look like a birds gone wild scene.

What I have tried with good sucess is to allow the birds to establish their own pecking order. I wouldnt suggest or even allow in my aviary a bird to get harrassed to the point that it is constantly running. I have a few potted plant's, silk tree's, multiple perches, and even multiple type's of perches in the aviary. Budgies like the best seat in the house, and they will fight for that seat.

Try reducing the amount of light they get by covering their cage a hour before dark, try removing any nest or breeding boxes if applicable. Another trick to try if you have the resources is to switch all of the birds to a different cage, this will take away their home so to speak, possibly limiting their aggression.


Best of luck!